Conference Preparation

I was able to spend some time this morning meeting with Don Magee and Darryl Gross at Lakes Baptist Church in Walled Lake. Don is the preaching pastor and Darryl is the men's ministry pastor at Lakes. My church (Berean Baptist) and Lakes has a long history. Terry McIntosh our preaching pastor planted Lakes Baptist before taking the call to lead Berean's pulpit in the early 90's. Lakes and Berean are both members of the Detroit Coalition (with a number of other local churches), a joint missions endeavor to train churches in Russia. Asking Don to be one of the conference speakers was a no-brainer. Anyways, we had a sweet time of fellowship this morning catching up on the events of our lives and churches, talking about the upcoming conference. As we talked and prayed together, the unity of the Spirit between us was evident. We affirmed desires that we shared:

• that we would treat the conference as God's conference and not our own,
• that Christ and His cross would be exalted in the conference,
• that through the conference area churches might unify and see each other as co-laborers,
• that the men in our churches would become true Christian leaders as a result of the conference,
• that the conference would have eternal significance resulting in the advancement of the Kingdom so that even the gates of hell would not prevail against it

As we were sitting in Don's office sharing prayer requests, I thought of the grace God has shown us by giving us sister churches in close enough proximity that we are able to promote and guard the gospel together. It is our hope that the men who come to this conference will begin to experience what I did with Don & Darryl this morning: fellowship in the gospel.

It is our great prayer that men will hear teaching that is specifically gospel-centered, that is, teaching that shows us (reminds us) that in the same way that we couldn't justify ourselves, we cannot daily save ourselves from our struggles. That is what true Christian leaders are: men who daily live in the power of what Jesus has already done. It is our hope that many men will come and fellowship in the gospel in this way and be more equipped to do so when they depart.

One vehicle we expect God to use is Don's teaching on "Patience in Light of the Cross." This message isn't written yet. We're still a few months away. It's exciting to think that our prayers will be powerfully answered by God to direct Don to teach just the message that we need to hear. How important for Christian leaders to demonstrate patience, over against rage and frustration that can so easily dominate us, rendering us useless for the Kingdom! Pray with us that the Spirit will lead Don to just the right biblical texts, to illumine the Word, to show him the ways in which patience reflects the cross. Pray that he will be given a profound clarity in teaching on this ever so important characteristic of the gospel-centered leaders.

This conference will not live up to its name without men praying. Join with us in these days of conference preparation.